#that of dealing with either physical or financial limitations

[paper-mario-wiki]

I feel like I've ended up in the same spot as so transmasc before me: I have a lovely cis boyfriend who loves my tits which I love for him, but I am getting dysphoric to the point I wanna lift my lips and show a lil teeth when I see his hands coming towards them. Feels bad because they are his favorite and we haven't been fucking as much because as soon as he starts touching me I am out of it™ and get all in my head and freeze up. Any advice?

good god, brother. i am utterly baffled at why you have elected me as the strategist for this problem, and i'm even more confused as to why you have chosen to go into as much detail as you have.

but.

if i were to give you some advice on this

i'd say that you should consider a conversation with your partner about the long-term plan for the relationship. a "relationship" is two lives that are connected, right? and your life is not one where you're gonna have boobs for the rest of it (or at least based on what you've told me i would assume, should you have your way, those bad boys are gettin lopped off at some point), therefore it's pertinent that it be brought up, because it concerns your life, therefore it concerns the relationship, therefore it concerns him, yes?

now, the first and most obvious thing to start with out the gate is the boundary, made clear and concise: the hills are now closed, off limits to tourists. all discussions regarding this come next. make it clear that it's about something quite core to your identity, and something that does in fact cause physical pain (a panic response from the nervous system is pain homie).

this brings some followup questions (and remember, this isn't an interrogation, it's a dialogue to share): how does he feel about this? if he's against, why? for that matter, how much does it bother him? is there something he doesn't understand about your discomfort? is there some concern he has about your financial or bodily well-being with regards to the procedure? is it because it's vital to his attraction to you as a partner? if that's the case, would their removal be a deal-breaker?

now keep in mind, these question can be brought up whether or not you've got immediate plans to engage in the aforementioned lopping-off of your aforementioned Bad Boys, because the actual point of this dialectical exercise is to create a simple, easy to navigate, easy to understand conversation, which will set a foundation for further negotiations-- should you learn something new about each other, or yourselves, or the relationship as a whole.

either way, i do not think that letting it keep happening and keeping it to yourself is a good idea. i can understand feeling guilty about withholding some physical and emotional gratification you could give "easily" to this person you care dearly for, but trust me when i say that it's not the way to let it be. not just because it's unfair to your partner to secretly grow to resent them for a reason you don't want to vocalize, but to yourself as well.

you may not know it, but by keeping it to yourself you're slowly building up a resentment. that frustration actually shows up pretty clearly in your message. and even if what you're frustrated about is only that particular activity, that activity is irrevocably tied to another person. specifically, a person that you consider to be a pretty central pillar in your life. if that resentment grows, it can evolve into anger, hatred, fear, paranoia, and all sorts of nasty things. and even aside from the emotional and psychological damage that can do, it can grow into a physiological issue, where your brain wears out more and more due to the growing emotional distress ripping through your neurons with all sorts of "emergency" chemicals. like i said, the panic response is a physical pain, even if your body doesn't feel like it "hurts".

so. to summarize.

ABSOLUTELY bring it up. if you don't, it could become damaging to your relationship, and also your actual real life physical brain.

when you do bring it up, remember that the goals are to set a boundary, and to reach an understanding through mutual conversation. it's a dialogue, not a lecture.

when you reach an understanding, figure out if the relationship needs to be renegotiated in some way. that usually means new boundaries, or expectations. or maybe nothing! though surely your boyfriend can find more things to love about you.

that's as best as i can muster. you don't have to follow it, but hopefully it'll at least give you some ideas you can use.

[gofancyninjaworld]

So, the upcoming chapter (update 230) gives me some thoughts

One change from the webcomic is obvious: the Tank Toppers are doing their best but are utterly outmatched by the Forest King.

Yes, that's Tank Top Girl in the lower right corner. I'm glad Reddit hasn't twigged or the sub would be swarmed with tentacle porn jokes.

We're anticipating that it's Genos who will come save them, but it won't make sense if the Forest King is still a demon-level threat like it was in the webcomic.

Genos is far too strong for that in the manga. This isn't recent; in fact, demon-level monsters have been a non-issue for Genos since chapter 64, when even the most defensive, sneakiest ones couldn't win against him, even when he was making mistakes.

Last we met him, demon-level threats were the trash he'd kill with a single kick.

ON WE GO! ONE has many evil challenges for Genos yet! We have well-organised, incredibly evil outfits (plural) that pose an existential threat to society. The monster irruption is getting worse, there are absurdly powerful monsters in existence (much worse than in the wc). And there's a god on the warpath. Genos has experienced this first-hand, much more so than most people.

And that's before we start on the destabilising effect that a new land popping back up is going to have. Also, how sure are we that the monster-weapon development project Drive Knight has been collecting specimens for is actually going to be used for anything good?

Not wasting time scrapping with regular monsters is good. Let's move this story forward!

However, I can think of two possible scenarios in which the Forest King could be a demon-level threat. Neither scenario is good.

Scenario 1: Dr Kuseno is having financial difficulties

Being a combat cyborg is expensive, and goodness knows that the last few weeks have meant that Genos has run through upgrades and weapons like cheap clothing. I don't care how rich Kuseno is, Genos's war body must have taken a significant bite out of his wealth. Even a billionaire would weep.

It might be possible that what Genos is coming back with is not what he wants but what the doctor can afford to give him, and it's a hell of a lot less than he'd be happy with.

If Genos is lucky, it's a cashflow problem in that he just has to take it easy on the demands until the doctor can rebuild his war chest. If Genos is unlucky, it's a running-out-of-cash problem and there's nothing for it but to make do with less, permanently.

Scenario 2 (less likely): Genos has lingering health problems that have forced him to downgrade

Even though the worst thing that happened to him in the last arc has been undone, Genos took a hell of a battering. Only some of that battering came from the monsters: the rest came from his very body. He's lucky that Fubuki can heal bodies as well as she can cool machinery off. Without that healing, he might well have perished before Cosmic Garou hove on scene.

It's not unreasonable for Dr Kuseno to decide that Genos's state of health doesn't allow him to safely wear a souped-up body, never mind a more powerful iteration of the same. He has no interest in supporting a dead hero.

Genos wouldn't take either scenario well but I think scenario 2 would be particularly devastating. His questions for Saitama would be pretty angsty -- how is he supposed to get stronger under such circumstances? Heck, how is he even going to survive with the kinds of threats now rearing their ugly heads?

Personally, I'm hoping that the 31st brings up a progressive story where demon-level monsters are no issue and we can move on with what's going on in this world, but I can see the mileage ONE could get out of regression. Either tack would take the manga story further away from the webcomic which works for me. :D Gimme two cakes, any day.

Of course, another hero altogether could save the Tank Toppers. And that would be another change from the webcomic, one that'd leave us to wonder about Genos a bit longer.

[nayatarot777]

the positive karma that you have coming in 2024

• pile one •

your energy during this past year (2023):

this year has been all about completing cycles and life lessons. related to what and who you give your energy to. you’ve had to learn how to stand on your boundaries when it comes to giving and receiving your time, money, and effort. there may have been a lot of people who were coming to you for a lot of help, using you as a pillar of strength for themselves. and while you may have been happy to do this, you realised that the give and take between you and these people were not equal. perhaps it wasn’t even a purposeful thing on their part, but they didn’t even have enough energy to give to themselves so there was never going to be a time when they could repay your energy back to you. this lesson has been learned and completed now.

there are also decisions that you’ve made that you’ve decided to just throw yourself into. options were available to you (particularly when it comes to creative projects or hobbies) and you decided to take a leap of faith when going after whatever options were available to you. i feel like you realised that staying stagnant was actually harming you so you forced yourself into a state of action in order to transform your life or yourself in some way.

there’s a lot of success that you’ve experienced as a result of this. a lot of support for whatever you’re working on too. there’s a lot of fire energy here so the action that you were giving to things and people that left you drained has now been redirected to what you’re working on, with a lot of motivation and inspiration, and you’ve gained followers or supporters of your work along the way. i’m hearing that this is a very loyal group of people who want to continuously support you too. you might’ve had to deal with indecision on this path, wondering if you were working the “right way” or if this would be profitable for you in some way - but it is. these supporters aren’t leaving, even when you take a break to question whether or not you should switch up your path.

your energy in 2024:

you’re going to be a lot more focused and serious in 2024 - especially in relation to a stable and happy life. you’re going to be experiencing the destruction of self-limiting beliefs and negative thought patterns. you could go in and out of these things, but your mind is going to be a lot more stable and focused on what you’re achieving this year. there’s pretty much nothing that can influence the way that you think and what you believe about the life that you’re building for yourself. for some of you specifically, you’ll be focusing on moving into a new home. and whatever home you move into, it’ll be a very happy one. whether you’re moving into this by yourself or with someone else.

you’re also going to be more focused on celebrating your achievements which may be something that you neglected doing before. there’s a lot of happy times here, thanks to some sort of teamwork. this is teamwork either between you and a friend or partner, or teamwork between you and your guides. this could even be a business partner. either way, your hard work and efforts will manifest a lot of positivity and happiness for you. i’m also seeing fast communication when it comes to collaboration that will involve a lot of learning from others and/or teaching other people a valuable skillset too. and this will bring finances to you. especially if any of you are doing any type of life/spiritual coaching work or you’re aiming to do a work project with a group of people.

you’ll be attracting a lot of financial abundance as well as physical stability. things won’t be so uncertain when it comes to your practical life. you’ve been in the energy of financial lack and poverty but by the end of the year, you’ll be more than comfortable and emotionally fulfilled. i mean, you have the queen of pentacles clarified by the ten of cups for the end of the year. it can’t get much better than that 😂

and i’m hearing that this is because you kept yourself in the energy of receiving finances and stability even when your external reality didn’t reflect that. i feel like a lot of you are experiencing lack but you’re still spiritually abundant. this is what you call trusting in your manifestations.

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• pile two •

your energy during this past year (2023):

your energy this year was centred around communication, your thought processes, your stability, and receiving financial abundance. at the beginning of the year, you were learning how to look for opportunities to go towards that would’ve helped you in laying down a stable foundation for yourself financially. and you were learning ways to practically ground the visionary ideas that were coming to you. there has been a lot of studying, learning, and practice of a skillset that you’ve successfully developed - perhaps with the help of other people’s skills through studying their work.

you’ve learned to listen to the guidance that spirit/your spirit guides have been trying to give you. you’ve maybe even learned how to have a wider perspective of your opportunities available to you or just about what’s achievable in life in general. there’s something here about your development in your work triggering other people. you may or may not have known this at the time, but it seems like some people in the same field as you felt as though your work was higher quality than their’s. this is the energy of starting something new, joining a workplace or a community of people, and knocking any competition out of the water. even if you weren’t competing with anyone - people felt the need to compete with you 👀. but there was no competition. again, you may or may not know this. i feel like most of you don’t because you’re just minding your business and directing your focus to working on your craft. and that’s why you’re succeeding more than these people. because they don’t mind their damn business, always in competition with people. you do mind your business. and you’re in competition with nobody but yourself. period 💅🏾

by the end of 2023, you’ve MAJORLY developed your communication skills as well as the skills required for your work. and your ability to attract financial abundance too. you’ve gone from the page of swords + the page of coins to the queen of swords + the queen of coins. and this is extremely fast development. you may be someone who usually develops quickly but this isn’t the usual for people. especially when it comes to the physical realm (coin/pentacle energy). that’s the slowest moving energy within the universe that we live in and you’ve managed to develop that energy within a year. doesn’t matter if you don’t feel like you’ve done anything much in terms of your work or your business or whatever this is. you’ve done A LOT. give yourself props.

your energy in 2024:

the first card out for your energy in 2024 is the four of coins. financial stability. feeling financially comfortable and having all of your needs met. not having to worry about money because you know that you have enough. your spirit guides are coming through heavily with this energy. you might be someone who’s extremely giving, constantly wanting to give to those around you. but your spirit guides are protecting your money. they’re protecting your money in general for sure, but specifically from people who may want to just take from you monetarily. there’s also a message to keep your financial state as PRIVATE as you possible can. i’m seeing that some of you have scorpio or pluto in the 2nd house. keep your money private to protect it from evil eye. your guides are protecting it from the influence of negative energy anyway, but i’m hearing that they’d rather not have to defend it more than necessary 😂. they want to focus on helping you to stack your money up, not waste their energy on evil-eyeing, jealous bitches who are secretly hating. so try to keep this is private as possible. especially from family if you have toxic family members who you may feel (or know) would rather you not do better for yourself. but in 2024, you’re financially comfortable and stable.

there’s also something about major responsibility given to you. the responsibility of being a leader or teacher in a spiritual group, or just in a workplace. i’m mainly picking up on religion, philosophy, or a structure that people come to for spiritual guidance and help. your spiritual beliefs are also solidifying themselves. you’re gaining some type of spiritual knowledge that’s going to become a closely-followed belief for you. some of you might also start going to a church, a mosque, synagogue, etc. just a religious or spiritual place of worship. and here is where you’re going to find a major opportunity for yourself. the hierophant and the high priestess has both come out in this part of the reading for you. this is a divine counterpart. i’m really feeling like a lot of you will be exploring traditional beliefs and religions and seeing the hidden, occult knowledge within it. so, for example, if you begin to read the bible, then this is where the knowledge from religion will come from - but not in the typical way. you’ll be able to see the metaphysical and occultist knowledge that’s interwoven into these traditional texts. how scripture is spellwork, manifestation techniques, how jesus was an occultist himself, etc. that’s just one example. and i’m hearing that spirit will be giving you valuable knowledge through downloads through traditional scripture and text.

you’re finding a lot of pure, genuine love for your work. this love is coming from you towards what you do, but also from other people who love what you do too. there’s a lot of communication of genuine love from those who enjoy your work and how you help them with it. there may be a pause towards the end of the year in relation to your work, but this will be an intentional pause made by you to just enjoy the fruits of your labour as well as seeing what’s beyond the horizon for your work too. perhaps even where you’d like to start to invest money in terms of assets, property, etc. there is going to be a lot of love expressed to you for your work, for your spiritual knowledge and leadership, etc. and i feel like you may have felt like this was lacking in 2023, but 2024 is the year that love for your work is flowing.

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• pile three •

your energy during this past year (2023):

you guys were dealing with a lot of deception, lies, gaslighting even. a lot of mental manipulation and illusions being thrown at you. this stagnated your mental space and your intuition. you didn’t know what to believe nor what to think and it’s almost like you couldn’t find a way out of it. even if you protected yourself from the source of this confusion and manipulation, it still affected your mind and put you in the energy of mentally being stuck. going back and forth between 2 perceptions of this person or this situation. questioning your own intuition. there’s something about not being able to rely on what you physically see with your physical eyes and having to rely on your third-eye - which was still fucked with because i’m seeing that you struggled to even trust in your intuition thanks to whatever this deceitful energy was.

gradually, you balanced out your mind and recognised the truth about this person or this thing. even if the physical world wasn’t reflecting what you knew intuitively about this, it seems like you settled on trusting what you know and not what you were physically shown in this situation. there’s also an energy of blocking communication with someone who was very deceitful. and you decided that you did the correct thing, after a long period of going back and forth about whether or not you were correct about this person. you were. they might’ve tried to communicate with you again but you shut that shit down and your guides are wanting me to tell you that you successfully passed the karmic lesson with this person. you were successful in putting into practice a lesson that your guides have been wanting you to learn, so now you have a lot of recognition for that in the spirit realm.

this whole situation was very burdensome for you to deal with. this person was burdensome, but you’ve laid the burdens down to rest. you’ve gained more stability in your self-assurance in your intuition and your self esteem. there’s a completion in relation to a lesson with these two things. the lesson of putting yourself first, not burdening yourself with other people’s problems, and trusting your intuition about people when something feels off. you’ve stepped into emperor energy as a result of this. taking lead of your life and protecting and defending yourself when necessary.

your energy in 2024:

this year, you’re having some sort of awakening in relation to your creativity, sensuality (your physical appearance specifically), and even your sexuality or sexual needs for some of you. everything related to what brings you joy and what makes you feel comfortable. and i feel like this is a result of finally learning to focus on yourself in order to ask yourself what you want for yourself. there’s going to be a lot of love that you have towards a new beginning in your physical life - especially money and luxuries. and you’re also finding a lot of support (mainly from your guides) when finding these things. you’re almost at the end of a very long, drawn out journey - but there’s one more major thing that you have to realise about life itself before this journey can come to a completion. this journey has a lot to do with self-worth and knowing what you deserve.

there’s a lot of energy related to manifestation here (as you are recognising something about creation). this realisation is about the emotions that you feel towards the physical realm. feeling like there’s something valuable to attract or to find in every situation that you’re in. this is what will bring you success and perhaps even recognition in your creative projects. especially if you’re self employed or if you’re planning to start a side-hustle. this year, you’re learning that your feelings towards life plays a part in the opportunities for financial abundance or just practical stability in general that are presented to you. you’re listening more to the feelings of happiness and joy and paying more attention to where they come from. because where your genuine happiness comes from is where you can create and manifest easiest.

the overall energy of your 2024 is the wheel of fortune, which is extremely fitting. it’s a card about the wheel turning in your favour, and life becoming the complete opposite of what it was before. you’ve been through it in 2023, with all types of rumination and stress and anxiety. but 2024 is about following the path of joy and what actually makes you happy - again, putting yourself first instead of weighing yourself down with burdens from other people who aren’t worth it. i’m also hearing that there’s “strength in numbers”. the more you follow this path, the greater the number of spirit guides (and people who will support you with your passions) will increase. there’s a lot of support for you throughout 2024 because you’re finally supporting yourself instead of prioritising supporting others instead. again, your feelings about life will determine what you attract. you feel like you deserve support and recognition (which is why you’re giving those things to yourself now), so that’s what will manifest in your physical reality too. “as within, so without”. funnily enough, i’ve just googled the actual meaning of that phrase and here’s what it says:

“The second part of the quote, “As within, so without,” suggests that our external reality is a reflection of our internal reality. What we think and feel inside of ourselves is manifested in our external circumstances and experiences.”

which sums up this whole reading. ain’t that crazy? 😂 this awakening is happening within you and your understanding of your own creative abilities regarding life in general and how they work for you. a spiritual wakening fr 💀

be proud of yourself, because this internal awareness wouldn’t be happening if you didn’t CHOOSE to do the work (especially shadow work) in the first place. you chose not to stay stagnant despite seeing no way out of your stagnancy this past year - instead of deciding to fall into a victim complex 👏🏾

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[saint-starflicker]

Jones: Capitalism must have unemployment to exist. The way the boss stops you from asking for more money is to threaten you implicitly or explicitly with firing you. If there were full employment, people could ask whatever pay they want. There'd be no one to replace them. Publications like The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times openly worry when the unemployment rate goes too low—because wages go up, profit and stock values go down. Capitalism must have an army of unemployed workers in order to exist. What do you have when you have an army of unemployed workers? You have an army of unemployed workers who want to eat. And humans are not gonna let themselves just starve. So they get involved in illegal business.

The Hero: You're leaving out assaults. Murder.

Jones: All business, legal and illegal, uses violence to regulate itself. If you try to run out of the grocery store with a cart full of groceries, either you're gonna get away with it or someone's gonna physically stop you whether it's the security or the police. If, say, a hotel neighboring the MCI building decided they wanted to tear down your building to make a golf course, you'd use violence...

The Hero: Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This is where the law steps in to make things civilized. I have a deed showing my ownership.

Jones: Right. The only reason that piece of paper is worth anything is because it implies that men with guns are gonna come to physically enforce the words written on it. Those men with guns are called police. The paper is a placeholder for the violence.

Jones: Illegal business doesn't have these. Illegal business practitioners can't go to court and say, "Your Honor! I was supposed to be buying a whole key of cocaine from the defendant. Clearly this is half baking soda. I demand restitution." They can't go to the zoning commission and say, "That neighborhood is only zoned for two heroin vendors, unless that guy has a special emergency permit or wants to limit himself to cocaine."

Jones: Often, legality or illegality is the only thing that determines whether business dealings are considered violent. In the 1920's when liquor was illegal, if you rob the liquor dude, gangsters come after you. Now that liquor is legal, if you rob the liquor dude, police come after you. In the 1990s when weed was illegal, if you robbed the weed dude, gangsters come after you. Now that weed is legal, if you rob the weed dude, police come after you.

Jones: Capitalism necessitates unemployment and poverty, which necessitates illegal business, the regulation of which is what causes violence.

Jones: How do you tell the whole working class that poverty and violence are necessitated by capitalism, without them deciding to get rid of capitalism? You don't. You tell them poverty is due to bad choices of those impoverished. But how do you tell the whole working class that their economic situation is due to their poor choices? You don't. You tell them that it's The Other that's making bad choices. That it's the culture of The Other that causes this.

Jones: You do this via the news, sitcoms, cop shows, and superhero shows. Even when they're smart enough to hide their point. This causes part of the working class, even the so-called others, to identify with the ruling class. A group of us are trying to change this whole thing. If you wanted to stop so-called crime and the violence that grows from it, you'd be a revolutionary. But you're not.

[tarot-reader]

Magic Square of Nine Three of Wands. A short duration, waiting a few days. Three days time, or within a week. Being expectant of time passing, people coming your way, anticipating an event or a visit. Thinking about where you are at this point in time, possibly while pausing for a break or spending some leisurely time. Two of Wands. Making quick decisions. Either one or the other. Polarized opinions, events, problems, people, moods or mindsets. A short wait. Keeping things in balance. Considering two major paths or options. Ten of Cups. Joy. Happiness. Being elated or at a point of deep love and satisfaction for life, family, circumstances, mindset, existence. Sharing the love with others is easy when you have it in abundance. Hearts sing together, it brings everybody closer into a tight knit community. Helping each other out in groups or moving forward with the assurance you have one another's' backs. Ace of Wands. A dash of energy, a jolt of inspiration. Effort and energy in a burst, about to be spent. Being impassioned in speech or craft. Passion as a feeling or an action. Knight of Wands. Quickly, in a flash. Quick, impassioned circumstances. Hot, albeit sometimes inconsistent lovers. There in a moment, in swift motion the next. Circumstances changing quickly before your eyes. Being in action. Open and immense. Take advantage of personal potential. Authoritarian. Strong willpower. Non-tolerant or impatient. The burning torch in his hand symbolizes the vision of introducing ways to recognize the new world. The symbol of innovation and the ability to move towards new goals. The unicorn is the instinct that was tamed. Six of Coins. A sense of finding balance. An exchange, business deals or trades. Commerce, bargaining, currency exchanges or items. A helpful hand or person. Overcoming a difficult period. Gaining material. Harmony and abundance. Helping others, getting help when needed. The Devil. Allure, desire. Fun, at times getting rowdy. Finances. Spending lots. Giving in to temptations. Living an alternate course or path in life. What are you willing to sacrifice in order to achieve your desired outcome? Are you willing to enslave yourself to it? The limiting circumstances or people barring the way forward. Responsibilities and enslavement. The concern of finances dominating my choices. Temptations. Strong power or craving. Awareness of a complete and authentic self. Bringing light into the not-so pretty aspects of it. Ace of Coins. A gain, trinket or gift. Something small. A literal coin or piece of gold/jewelry. Currency. The ability to spend or invest in something. Ideas taking physical form. Embodiment of concepts, the birth of ideas from the ethereal realm of thought and into a tangible existence. Nine of Coins: Goals being materialized. Satisfaction and happiness from all the wealth and prosperity achieved. Material success, luxury. Financial luck. Achievements. Satisfaction with circumstances. It pleased me to see this card come out last because it leaves you with a sweet aftertaste. The promise that long years of arduous effort will be worth it. Tomorrow I'll list all the houses of the magic square.

[4dkellysworld]

Hi Kelly!! :)

My question is about ego fears and to what extent we should ‘deal’ with them/how much attention we should give them. My character is moving into a new place in a months time, and I’m expected to pay my first instalment of rent by the end of August. This has all come about quite suddenly, and the cost is way more than I can currently afford. The worry of a looming deadline, and needing to conjure up money that ‘I’ physically don’t have right now, has been scary. I’ve studied your Releasing tag, and I’ve read everything from Ada, as well as lots from Sophie and Lain (her thread helping out the anon with difficult circumstances has been particularly helpful, and it was lovely to read of that anon’s success). In a practical sense, I am looking into ways I can afford to pay this rent on time, or considering possibly contacting the landlord and asking to be given more time to pay it. Besides that, I’ve been working through feeling/accepting this ego fear without fighting it… Surrendering to it, recognising that ‘I’ cannot do anything about these circumstances beyond a certain point besides simply let them be and trust in Self to guide me through. I have read chunks of the Sedona method, and I have been applying the method of first, feeling the fear/emotion, and then, asking myself "could I let this go? would I let this go? when?"

It has definitely been helpful, and I am able to calm myself down in moments of panic and remind myself that these fears are of the ego and not me, but I can feel there is still anxiety that lingers, particularly with the more time that passes and the sooner the deadline approaches without any financial improvement. I wondered if the goal, with releasing, is to wipe out fear entirely? In that case, am I to continue applying until I can think of the situation and be totally neutral? The lingering fear feels almost inevitable, though I suppose that’s because I’m still identifying somewhat with ego. It almost feels like the more I try to let go of this fear, I veer into trying to ‘get rid’ of it, which only reinforces its very existence. I suppose I feel that what would be better would be to give up entirely on trying to let go of it, and instead totally welcome it and allow it to stay. Of course that doesn’t mean clinging to/dwelling in it, but also not necessarily trying so hard to release it either? It’s as if I’ve given this fear a story — I feel the fear of financial insecurity, I associate it with being the character/ego that I do not want who has financial insecurity, and I therefore ‘do methods’ to move away from the fear in order to make it not so in the physical realm — and this only seems to have kept the fear around/grown it.

This is probably what was meant all along, when Ada said to "leave poor Vanessa alone, with her desires and fears, disbelieve you are her until reality becomes self-obvious". But I would just love to hear your input/any clarification/if you have any of your own experiences to share when it comes to finding a balance between actively digging up the unconscious and letting parts of ego go versus just accepting and allowing parts of the ego to be (so that it ends up falling away on its own anyway).

I’m sorry for the long message! Thank you so much for everything you do, you’re an angel 🩷

Hi! Lots to address here, I'll go through them one by one. I won't tell you what you should do (because there are no shoulds and it's ultimately a choice, your choice) but I'll speak of my own perspective and experiences and you can take what resonates/will help you.

My question is about ego fears and to what extent we should ‘deal’ with them/how much attention we should give them.

One of my "goals" is to be free of all fear, because fear only imprisons you and locks/limits you into a certain way of living/being when it's false to begin with. How I 'deal' with it (whether that be straight up ignoring/dismissing it, bringing up the unconscious thoughts to release them, rationalizing it or something else) really depends on a case by case basis which is why I always focus on what feels right and appropriate in the moment because doing something I feel I 'should' do instead of what feels right ends up not being the answer and doesn't work.

I wondered if the goal, with releasing, is to wipe out fear entirely? In that case, am I to continue applying until I can think of the situation and be totally neutral?

Yes it is. And yes that's what I do when I choose to release.

I suppose I feel that what would be better would be to give up entirely on trying to let go of it, and instead totally welcome it and allow it to stay. Of course that doesn’t mean clinging to/dwelling in it, but also not necessarily trying so hard to release it either?

Then there you go, that's what resonates for you so trust it, give it a go and see what happens. It doesn't mean the other approaches are useless or don't work for fears in general for you but for this particular fear of yours, this may very well be the best approach to take. I've done something similar for some fears. Instead of releasing or ignoring or rationalizing it, I just choose to accept it, love it and thank it because it is just ego wanting to protect itself. Because emotions don't exist in a vacuum, they're messengers and give us clues as to what underlying thoughts & beliefs we hold (side note: watch the Inside Out movies! They are so precious). Fear exists because it wants to protect us from something that the mind has deemed a danger (as obvious as that sounds lol). I noticed you have been mentioning fear itself a lot but have you looked into the underlying thoughts/beliefs that drive that fear and released on that level? And then see yourself having all that you believe you lack over and over until you feel completely free? Basically the steps in the second part of this ask. When I'm doing these steps, I'm not trying to fight or get rid of it, that's not the mentality I have. I just recognize it is a false belief that isn't part of the true me and it's a letting go feeling which is a different state to feeling you need to fix or get rid of something. If that doesn't work for you, then maybe you can just take time out to sit in silence and stillness then imagine sitting in an empty room with this fear and just being okay with that.

This is probably what was meant all along, when Ada said to "leave poor Vanessa alone, with her desires and fears, disbelieve you are her until reality becomes self-obvious".

Yes but again, what she says here is just one way and not the only way (there is no one way. There are so many paths Home. Did you know that there are people who practice ceremonial magick as a way to enlightenment? Heck even lucid dreaming and astral projection can be ways. Does that mean everyone needs to start practicing these? No lol. You do what feels right for you and that can change over time). She also says to unclutter your mind, to set yourself right emotionally and mentally, and to ask yourself questions and do what feels right for you. So take what resonates, I can't emphasize this enough. Trust in yourself more and follow what feels right. Be more flexible because being rigid and thinking you can only do certain things (including being limited purely to what you read on our blogs or whatever a spiritual guru says) is only another form of limitation and bondage. There hasn't been a single teaching or practice I can think of that I have applied solely in every moment of every day since I started (not that I didn't try at first but then I'd let go and try something else when I realized it wasn't doing anything for me. Then I realized that different approaches work for different situations and I need to be flexible). I've even made up my own practices based on what feels right in the moment (like just meditating in the feeling of the essences I enjoy such as love, abundance, freedom, peace etc). Plus the 'disbelieve you are her' part is where it can take some time (on the physical level) and accepting that and being patient with myself was way more helpful to me in leading me to actually disbelieving I'm her as opposed to trying to adopt that disbelief straight out before dropping chunks of ego and coming to my own realizations that I am not her.

But I would just love to hear your input/any clarification/if you have any of your own experiences to share when it comes to finding a balance between actively digging up the unconscious and letting parts of ego go versus just accepting and allowing parts of the ego to be (so that it ends up falling away on its own anyway).

Okay there was a time last year where I was very actively digging into my unconscious to release things, my goal was to do a whole life review like Lester did and go through my entire life and release everything lol. I mean, it's an amazing idea and I wished I could do it but it also felt like trying to draw blood from stone. I did chunks of some major releases (maybe a few months worth of this ego's recent life) but it was pretty draining and at the rate I was going, there was no way I would be able to do my entire life in just 3 months (maybe a few years...) like Lester despite being younger than him.. And here Lester kept saying you only need 3 months to go free lol. This was really frustrating and confusing and I would think, Lester must not have experienced a lot of trauma in his life.. I read his story of how he realized himself and the thing he mentioned that was hardest for him to let go was a lost love from like 20 years ago or something but things that are highly highly traumatic can take a lot more time to truly neutralize and release. I realized my life looks way differently to him, what he did was for his life and his methods helped me but his overall "way" wasn't working for me. I also didn't want to feel like I was constantly striving to 'clean the mind' because it felt like another form of imprisonment and I wasn't fully living in the now when I was constantly bogged down by the past (which still felt real to me then and I wanted it to stop feeling so real).

Not saying the chunks of releases I did were not helpful, heck yes they were and I'm glad I did them. It's also helped me reach a state where I am now a lot more peaceful and still within and recognize whatever "past" I have isn't real or true, whatever comes up can be more easily let go of because it isn't valuable to me anymore. You know what else purifies the mind? Meditation. And not as a form of 'doing' but as a way of being. There was one time I was so overwhelmed and exhausted I just gave up. I lay on the floor and just decided it was all over and there's nothing to do. I just looked at the ceiling and stopped doing anything. I wasn't anything anymore. I spent a few days like this and after that, there was a point where I realized/noticed that something within me had changed and I couldn't really pinpoint it but things just suddenly didn't bother me anymore, fears that used to exist just suddenly didn't (maybe you can try this as well if it resonates, just give up and be). I realized that meditation (not just sitting meditation but as a constant beingness) can be a way of mind purification too when you just stop being an ego and let Self take care of things. Here's something Robert Adams said that I read later on and realized it was exactly what I did:

Student: Giving up isn't sufficient. I realize that, I listen to that whatever, whether it's the strength or the insight, there's still fighting, there's a partial giving up and still there's a tremendous suffering. Robert: Then simply quiet your mind, sit still and do nothing. Everything will happen by itself. Like you're doing now, become still. Do not try to do anything to yourself. If thoughts come just watch them and everything will take care of itself. That's when you abide in the Self, when you do nothing and everything stops, all action stops and no matter how things come to you, you don't care, you just don't react. Even death, makes no difference. Student: Would you say that there is something more important than all of the sadhanas? Robert: No you can't say that because that's the ego again, but when you just sit and all fear leaves you, something else will take its place and that will be bliss and happiness. When you stop fearing. So just sit and let all the fears come. Smile and sit still. Student: You mean just look at them and detachedly? Robert: Just watch them. Let them come, let them do their worst, let them drive you crazy and you don't care, let them. But you try to stop, now, let them. Just whistle, sing a song, do nothing and watch what happens. Student: So you're talking basically about self-observation, Robert? Robert: Not even self-observation because you've got to think about that, to do self-observation. You're actually just doing just absolute zero. You've turned yourself off and you have the attitude, even if I die right now, so what, doesn't matter. Even if my worst fear manifests, good, let it. (laughter) Student: It seems difficult. Robert: No not really, it seems difficult but it's easy if you do it, try it. Get by yourself and just sit down, put your hands together and do absolutely nothing. Don't tell yourself you're watching or you're practicing anything at all. Give all practices up, give it all up. Student: So even questioning, "Who am I?" is still ego? Robert: Yes, definitely, give everything up and let the worst come.

The other ways are all the ego using mind to undo itself but you can also let Self do it if you just get ego out of the way. There comes a point where you have to just yield and let Self take care of it, you'll know when it is (also it's ultimately the best overall method imo cos we're all lazy, right? The less effort the better haha. Free mind purification for zero effort yay! Thanks Self -- Although it takes effort to still and cleanse the mind to a point where meditation becomes enjoyable and effortless as opposed to feeling bored and wanting mental stimulation). Now I can enjoy meditation, not with any expectations but simply just being feels the best. And sometimes it's a rhythmic dance of switching between the two. But now I only release things that naturally come up in daily life as opposed to digging into the past to look for limiting thoughts to drop.

Just be flexible and follow what feels right and you'll eventually understand what that balance is for you. I hope this helps you!

[fischerfrey]

► basics;

Full Name: Jesper Ezra Greenaway Birthday: December 8th, 1988 (Sagittarius) Pronouns: he/him Sexual Orientation: bisexual Hogwarts House: Slytherin Blood Status: Pure-blood Nationality: British

► magical info;

Wand: Jesper inherited the wand of his great-great-grand uncle Ezra Greenaway;

Cypress wood with a phoenix feather core, 12 ¾ and reasonably supple flexibility Garrick Ollivander noted that cypress wands were associated with nobility. The great medieval wandmaker, Geraint Ollivander, wrote that he was always honoured to match a cypress wand, for he knew he was meeting a witch or wizard who would die a heroic death. Fortunately, in these less blood-thirsty times, the possessors of cypress wands were rarely called upon to lay down their lives, though doubtless many of them would do so if required. Wands of cypress found their soul mates among the brave, the bold and the self-sacrificing: those who were unafraid to confront the shadows in their own and others’ natures.

Patronus: Adder The Adder Patronus represents determination, cunning, and being free-spirited. An adder is a tough and cunning snake and just like those who cast this Patronus, they know what they want and go for it. If this is your Patronus, you work hard and exceed the limitations that others put on you. Typically, adders will fiercely attack when threatened, which means a Dementor should be afraid of going up against this fearless Patronus. Patronus Memory: Memories with Harker and the other members of the Five Club.

Boggart: Being all alone, abandoned by his friends Class Proficiencies: Astronomy: A Charms: O DADA: O Herbology: A History of Magic: O Potions: A Transfiguration: E Electives: Ancient runes: O Divination: A Muggle Studies: E Latin: O

► background;

Place of Birth: St Mungo’s, London Home: Wildridge Manor, The Greenaways’ estate Pre-Hogwarts: Jesper grew up comfortably with wealthy parents. His family’s status protected him from the worst of the effects of the Second Wizarding War. The Greenaways have enjoyed the financial security brought by Ezra Greenaway’s success for a few generations without having to deal with the repercussions brought by fame. Jesper is not very close to either one of his parents and had several nannies as a child. He gets along with them alright though and doesn’t seem to mind their absent parenting style. Jesper's family also own Ezra's private house on the sea side and often use it as a vacation home. Hidden in the attic of the house are many of Ezra's journals that the family didn't want published. Amongst them are more personal accounts of his private life but also a story about a dark secret he stumbled upon during his days of exploration... Post-Hogwarts: After the events of his final year, Jesper loses touch with most of his friends. He beginst to work under his father at the Greenaway publishing company, as he's meant to some day take over after his father retires. He has some acquaintances from work and out of the people he knew in school that he hangs out with, but he feels more alone than ever. He feels like nobody really understands him. His experiences in The Dark World had a profound effect on him and he struggles to leave it behind. Little does he know, that then years later their actions in school would come back to haunt him and he'd have to return to The Dark World and its horrors.

► physical;

Faceclaim: Sebastian Croft (young), Maxim Baldry (adult) Eye Color: Gray-Green Hair Color: Dark brown Height: 5′11 (180cm)

► relatives;

Father: Jerome Greenaway by @potionboy3 Jerome is the current owner of the Greenaway’s company and head of the publishing house. He is not extremely close with his son, but they get along alright. FC: Austin Nichols

Mother: Charisma Greenaway, née Lockhart Older sister of Gilderoy Lockhart, Charisma is a socialite and a model. She used to use the hyphened name Lockhart-Greenaway until the downfall of her little brother, at which point she changed it to only Greenaway. She’s not the most hands-on parent but loves her son. FC: Kate Bosworth

Aunt: Desdemona Lockhart Uncle: Gilderoy Lockhart Great-great-granduncle: Ezra Greenaway by @potionboy3 Jesper’s ancestor is the famous author, Ezra Greenaway. His books got wildly popular during his life time and have since achieved an even wider audience all across the Wizarding World. He’s the reason behind the Greenaways’ wealth and also the catalyst to Jesper and his friends’ search for The Dark Realm and the powers hidden within. Ezra's journals detail his discovery and exploration of The Dark Realm, that he studied with the help of Etta Travers. FC: Hugh Dancy

► relationships;

Allegiances: The Greenaway family, Slytherin house, The Five Club Best friends: The Five Club The boys of the Five Club met on the first day of school and became inseparable as time went on. They’re called the Five Club because everyone at Hogwarts knows how close-knit their friend group is. During the summer before their sixth year, the boys find Ezra Greenaway's journals and start to unravel to mystery of The Dark World together. Harker Hartford by @potionboy3 Harker is arguably the closest to Jesper out of the boys. They sat together in the train on the first day and shared many interests, quickly becoming close. Jesper chose divination as an elective just to hang out with Harker, even though he doesn't care for it or even get good marks. FC: William Franklyn Miller

Jude Castellan by @potionboy3 Jesper’s dormmate. Jude and Jesper are very similar, being brought up in pure-blood circles. They share an appreciation for the finer things in life. FC: André Dae Kim

Darby Rosen Darby and Jesper’s common denominator are their friends. They often joke about how without Harker and Brooke they would never have become friends. Still, they've grown to like each other over the years. FC: Kelvin Harrison Jr.

Brooke Killingbeck by @potionboy3 Brooke and Jesper have a difficult relationship; they’re close, but often at odds with each other. Especially after a situation involving Jesper’s girlfriend Judy, their relationship becomes strained. FC: Mark Eydelshteyn

Other friends: Olga Kavinsky Originally rivals, Jesper and Olga become friends after school because Olga is dating Jesper's old friend and dormmate Jude. Ivan Cuarón by @potionboy3 At school, Jesper and Ivan weren't close, and Ivan felt like Jesper was a little too high-strung. They become friends later, when Ivan and Darby are dating. Dormmates: Jude Castellan Love Interest(s): Judith “Judy” Bones Jesper and Judy started to date during the summer before their sixth year at Hogwarts. On the surface they’re the perfect couple, but both parties have some hidden reservations about the relationship. FC: Violet Brinson

Harker Hartford Jesper and Harker have had some hidden feelings for each other for a long time, though Jesper kept denying them. Harker was hurt by Jesper’s actions, especially him dating Judy. Rivals: Brooke Killingbeck, Brion McLaggen, Vanya and Olga Kavinsky Enemies: Sasha Kavinsky, The Entity

► personality;

Jesper is ambitious, charming, self-serving, and thirsty for power. He's clever and enjoys academia, wanting to excel in school. He often masks his insecurity with bravado and his family’s money. He lacks emotional maturity and is afraid of commitment but he wants people to like him more than anything. He prefers to be surrounded by people, rather than alone. He tries his best to seem nonchalant, even though he cares deeply. One of his greatest fears is being left all alone and friendless. As a teen, he loves his friends but he’s not beyond using them for his own gain. After the consequences of his actions catch up to him, he has to learn several things about himself and his priorities, hopefully becoming a better person in the process.

► misc;

Hobbies: Photography Languages spoken: English, A bit of Latin Extracurriculars: Duelling Club Favourite Subject: History of Magic, Defense Against Dark Arts, Latin Professions: Head of Greenaway Co.

template (x)

[penig]

Though A Christmas Carol is one of my all-time favorite books, there’s no denying that the scene of Belle’s happy post-Scrooge domestic life is uncomfortable for me in a couple of ways; but I can deal, because I grew up with that and I believe I understand those ways.

In modern tumblr parlance, this scene is highly heteronormative, and the narrator’s digression about Belle’s daughter is, um, kinda creepy. If you’re put off by those things, I don’t blame you.

But the first thing you need to understand here is, that a lot of this scene is about all the great sex Scrooge isn’t having. That man is a virgin, too mean to get married and too cheap to pay for it. And Dickens, who loved sex and wasn’t allowed to speak of it directly, wants to be sure we understand that. He’s not telling us that a Big Noisy Happy Family is the Height of Happiness for everyone, he’s showing us the result of a healthy married sex life in a financially secure household when birth control isn’t an option.

There’s no ostentatious wealth here, but there’s no pinch of tight budgeting, either. Everyone is well-fed, well-clothed, and bursting with energy. The kids feel safe and loved. They are rambunctious because they are healthy and it’s an exciting occasion, but the only dismay in the scene stems from universal concern for the baby, not from sibling rivalry or bad temper. There’s enough spare money for enough toys to go around. No indications in the room of any recent illness or bereavement. The daughter old enough to sit up with her parents is not faking anything or having to play mother because Belle is incapacitated by producing these children; and the mood does not shift when the children leave the room - no one is fronting for their sake. Belle and her husband love each other enough to make love regularly, a large family has resulted, and they have enough good sense and good fortune that this is not a hardship. This is the best possible outcome, given that opting out of children or voluntarily limiting family size without limiting sexual congress was not a realistic option for most heterosexual couples in this place at this time.

The narrator’s desire to get in there with the kids romping with Belle Jr.  is a pretty good sample of Dickens’s idealized sexualization of young women, which for what it’s worth seems to have been more or less normal in the culture. (Doesn’t mean you or I have to like it or leave it unquestioned.) If she knew about it, there is a chance she would take it as a compliment and that her mother would only track it and put the narrator on notice about where the boundaries are, not summarily throw him out as a modern mother might be inclined to. It’s a very skin-hungry passage, and reflects the fact that female children become off-limits physically when they hit puberty and that this is, in fact, unfortunate, because people need to touch each other. We are too sensitized to the reality that any random guy could be a predator to give much play to the notion that this sort of attention could be innocent, but Dickens would hardly have been so open about it if he didn’t expect his audience to accept it easily.

And I think it’s important that this passage is entirely the narrator speaking. Scrooge is undoubtedly just as skin hungry as the passage implies, but the role he can’t help envying is the father’s, the trusted absolutely-not-sexual figure who can be leaned against confidingly, hugged and kissed with no question of arousal, and relied upon unquestioningly for protection and support - which he will unquestionably give. Is it an idealized image of fatherhood? Sure, a bit. But it’s not an unachievable or unreasonable one.

When Scrooge froze Belle out, he froze out not only his chance of being loved romantically, domestically, and parentaly - but of loving in those ways, too. No one relies on him for anything; no one trusts him with their safety or their smiles, in any respect, because he has been deliberately avoiding putting himself into a position in which anyone could. He doesn’t love anyone, and of the people he remembers loving, Fan is dead and Belle pities him. He’s been telling himself he doesn’t care about any of that, and he’s just come face to face with the enormity of the lie he’s been repeating all this time.

And his skin? Is starved half to death.

[griseldagimpel]

The Internet Archive, U.S. Copyright Law, and the Infinite Copies Hack

I felt like throwing in my two cents about the Internet Archives. I'm dealing with Covid vaccine side effects, so this isn't going to have sources cited. Also, hashtag not a lawyer; not legal advice.

Alright. Let's say you want to buy my book, which you can do here. Under U.S. copyright law, I and my publisher have control over copies being made (and then sold) but there are fair use exceptions. You could buy a copy of my book and then resell that copy. You could make a single copy of your purchase and sell that. You can loan either out to a friend. You can loan either out to a lot of friends, one after another. That's all fine.

You can't make a hundred copies and sell them or give them away. With copyright law, the line between "fair use" and "lawsuit" can turn on factors like "how many times you did it".

If a library bought my book, they could loan it out to a lot of people, one after another, the same as a private individual can. But doing this will damage the book over time, so if a book is loaned out a lot, it's going to need to be replaced more frequently.

And then there are ebooks.

Right. Okay. So ebooks didn't exist when copyright law was first written. The internet didn't exist. And sometimes the emergence of new technology can really throw a curve ball at things.

Because digital copies don't wear out over time.

The solution to this is that when a library buys an ebook, they buy it for a certain number of loans. And when those are used up, they have to buy it again. It mimics the wear and tear that physical books get when loaned out. You can criticize this current set up, I'm just noting here that a.) it exists and b.) it serves to get more money to authors.

Then there's the Internet Archive. Okay, so the Internet Archive decided that if they buy a book, since they can legally make a copy, they should be able to legally make a digital copy and then lend that out.

Now, this gets into dubiously legal territory. After all, this is arguably the equivalent of loaning out an ebook an infinite number of times.

I do want to emphasize that "dubiously legal" isn't the same thing as "illegal", and plenty of emerging technology was looked on with suspicion before being accepted. Examples are video tapes and Google Books, both of which are now seen as fair use.

And in the Internet Archive's defense, they'd only lend the book out to one person at a time. Still, legally dubious, but there was a safeguard in place, to minimize authors getting financially screwed.

But then the pandemic hit, and the Internet Archive decided to remove this limit, allowing their digital copy to be checked out by as many users at a time as wished.

That took the Internet Archive from legally dubious territory to straight up illegal territory. It took them from getting side-eyed by publishers to getting sued.

And so they lost.

Moral of the story: if you're trying to expand fair use exceptions to copyright law, don't dive headlong into 'fuck around and find out' territory.

[ashes-of-ailell]

Sorry it took a while for your ask to arrive after reblogging this! I've been busy fighting Those Who Slithered in the Dark

Your prompts are!

⏫, ⤴, 📜, 📚, ☕, ✉

HAVE FUN!!!

Hello!! No worries whatsoever, thank you so much for asking!! :3

⏫ What weapon / skill do you think you'll be proficient in? (Max. 3)

Faith / Bow / Reason for sure!! I don't really like getting up close to attack, but I'd also want to be able to heal those around me if at all possible. I'll fight if I have to, but I'd prefer to just play support.

⤴️ (I don't have that specific arrow emoji) Who are characters that you think you can achieve A+/S level support ending with? (no limit)

Ashe / Bernadetta / Linhardt / Dedue / Annette / Marianne / Hubert / Constance / Hapi / Yuri / Flayn

📜 What will your backstory be?

I'd be from Faerghus probably. I think I'd want to be the son of a florist or merchant of some description based in Fhirdiad. I think I'd have somehow ended up at the School of Sorcery (probably fixated on magic a bit too much and got good at it as an accidental result) and realise I enjoy helping people, so I'd try and get into the Officers Academy. Though some of that might also be a product of financial concerns or other issues.

📚 What nature will your magic be? Both reason and faith are accepted!

I think I'd have a lot of healing/support magic (Heal / Physic / Fortify / Warp) and my offensive magic would be ice based (Fimbulvetr / Blizzard) with some light from the Faith (like Nosferatu / etc)

☕ What tea should Byleth get for your teatime?

I'm not a big fan of tea, but if I had to pick one for the game mechanic's sake, I'd probably go with Ginger Tea, or something sweet.

✉️ What 'anonymous' question will you drop into the guidance box for Byleth to answer?

Oh that's a tough one. Depending on if it's Pre or Post Timeskip, I'd either ask if they can point me in the direction of someone who I can talk to about a book I like, or I'd ask about ways to deal with nerves before a fight.

Thank you so much for asking, this was so much fun to do!! Hope you're having a lovely day! :3

[apcthetics]

*˖ ⊹ ────────  lore dump.

this is just a little collection of explanations about where my characters currently are physically, emotionally, career-wise, etc. it's mainly for me to keep myself straight with my ideas and their development but uhhh also to make sense if i drop any of it in a post. that's all ! read or don't read at your discretion ! don't matter to me.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  alistair castillo.

i really don’t imagine his life changes much from day to day to be totally honest………. there is nothing new happening in his life he’s still just being a menace upon new york and giving people sick ass tattoos.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  brady ackerman.

he’s been wound up in a lot of different projects and probably running himself into overdraft; busy filming the next season of his show, and also alongside it trying to finish out a manuscript for the next book he’s supposed to be writing, all while flying all over the world in just a handful of weeks. hasn’t touched down in new york for more than a few days in the past 2 months but hey at least he’s successful right. right guys. right. haha. he's not tired at all. don't look at his dark circles for too long. 

*˖ ⊹ ────────  caleb williamson.

christmas is a pretty big time for his little side gig selling rare records online, so that picked up quite a bit even as his music lessons kind of trailed off as kids went off on winter holiday. it’s also just been rly quiet for him because obviously christmas didn’t go very well as family dinners never really go well at the willamson/michaelson house and then luvena has been either away or rotting in her room so there’s not really been much for him to do if levi and trinity arealso preoccupied (with each other? idk i dont god mod 👀. ) he did do a really successful new years eve show i think that he’s proud of but mainly it’s just been his little side hustle and now as lessons are picking back up.

*˖ ⊹ ────���───  clementine bailey.

so clem is still in the process/paperwork of buying the diner, all the bank loans and everything like that but she is now effectively in charge of it which has definitely been ! a big deal ! her and loren moved into a new apartment and clem has yet to even unpack most of her boxes because she’s spending a lot of time at the diner going over all the financials and trying to teach herself how to handle the back end of a business instead of just the front half. it’s A Lot and she’s definitely Stressed and crying a lot and everyone has been getting 3am baked thumb print cookies, but don't even worry about her !

*˖ ⊹ ────────  damien clarke.

christmas is always the best but busiest time of year for retail so i imagine damien has been putting in a lot of extra effort to make sure that it’s special !! he did some big holiday toy drives alongside some local charities, but since the christmas rush has kind of fallen off and times are slower he’s now just trying to get through the pile of bookkeeping and administrative stuff that he needs to worry about. i have been playing with the idea of him running a very limited indie comic publishing thing out of the back office of his shop, having started with the one done by him & honey and now kind of expanding to artists who maybe don’t have the funds or ability to afford printing and stuff themselves but………… idk the logistics of that yet so it’s definitely just an idea in his head that’s in the early stages. he’s having fun with it. honestly he's having a great time.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  eli russo.

again i don’t think his daily life has much variation. working security at a show venue a few evenings a week and still coaching the Youth ™ w/ boxing a few days a week… sometimes he does do like 14 hour days which is a bit unfortunate and his schedule is all over the place which is bad for the brain that can barely remember what day it is on a good week but you know!!! his memory has been slightly improving thanks to all of the puzzles & all that stuff!!! so like good for him!!! go off king!! 

*˖ ⊹ ────────  elijah guiterrez.

again i just brought him here so i don’t really think things have been particularly outstanding in his life. just him and carmen doing their little school thing idk. he’s working as a TA in among all the other school stuff he’s doing i suppose.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  esther thomas.

lowkey i think she’s started dropping off from doing auditions all together… like she’s so bored of them, and getting anywhere in the snow and cold is rough, so while she hasn’t admitted it to anyone or even necessarily herself she’s just like. not been looking. kind of giving up on her dream but doesn’t want to admit that because then that means her parents were right. but like really she’s resigned herself to the bartending life. otherwise nothing new.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  grace bao.

she’s been stuck in this hellish domestic civil lawsuit at the moment that’s eating up practically all of her spare time because the judge and the defense are assholes and she has gotten competitive about it, alongside all of her Daughter Responsibilities for her parents and their millions of holiday and new years parties. grace does nothing but work, eat, be miserable at charity dinners, work some more, and maybe sleep right now. that’s her whole social life. 

*˖ ⊹ ────────  jackson ruíz.

construction is fairly seasonal work so while he’s still working he’s not as busy as he usually is, and also it’s winter and everything is depressing, so he’s definitely been deep into hermit “i haven’t seen you in a week” mode. especially with giselle kind of flying out to conferences and stuff there hasn’t been much reason for him to get out of his apartment. he’s in a Depression Era but hey ! it happens ! 

*˖ ⊹ ────────  kal sekh.

i think the news of eren’s diagnosis has had quite an effect on kal, especially having to keep it a secret from everyone and also because she doesn’t want as much support for it as he feels like he should be giving, so he’s slipping a little bit into old habits again and overworking himself into the ground so he doesn’t have to rly stop and think about what’s happening. double shifts and insomnia are back baby !!!!!!!!!

*˖ ⊹ ────────  kas peters.

just came out of a period where he had a few different mural commissions going on all at the same time and he was much busier than he’s usually used to so now he is simply basking in the fact that he doesn’t have to worry about funds broke-ass artist bitch but also that he doesn’t have anything to do. just kind of vibing. fucking around with his art in his room. fucking around w/ gabriella’s emotions. you know how it is. no cares in the world for this guy.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  minji kyung.

around new years she had the opening of her studio !! so she’s been very busy, not really making art but she’s been spending a lot of her time at the gallery/studio. this is a really big change from her because she’s kind of lacked purpose or a project for a really long time that i imagine she’s just really happy and really excited ??? but also probably very daunted because she feels like she doesn’t belong or doesn’t have the skills to do it properly yano. 

*˖ ⊹ ────────  reid baker.

he took a little vacation time off since his work is also pretty seasonal to go back and visit his parents on the farm, but mostly his life has been no different except he’s been shovelling snow off the central park steps instead of just being a glorified gardener. honestly he’s pretty chill he doesn’t have the braincells to be anything except chill.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  sebastián dominguez-herrera.

this bad boy went on tour !!! first it was america, and following that he did a few shows in europe & south america. he’s also been working on his next album in between, but he’s at a bit of a stand still with that one because he isn’t feeling ~ inspired ~ and he’s kind of groggy and thinks he’s sick all the time because all the travelling + the winter that he’s not really used to. drama queen never experienced seasonal depression before and hes getting a little taste of it.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  wren noor.

i think wren is starting to actually reconsider the kinds of things she wants to do with her life and the degree she already has now… i think maybe she’s looking into online courses at other universities where she might be able to finish her masters but also is considering a career change totally… she’s been spending way more time on the roof with her telescope and getting excited about that stuff again as she heals, but definitely is still cautious,,, anyway she's been doing her research.

[elis-corner]

So I tried binding with tape for the first time (unsafe situation edition).

If you want to hear about how I'm getting away with it and my experiences, look below the cut <3

Before I begin, if you're looking for advice, I live in Australia, have limited income, and am typically an AU B or C in terms of bra size and don't compress well. A lot of my advice will be specific to my environment and physicality, so keep that in mind.

I (transmasc) currently live in a context where I have to maintain a somewhat feminine appearance (for my interests, religion, education, etc.), and am financially dependant on people who are wholly against queerness.

SPORTS BRAS: Almost a year after I realised I wasn't cis, and that just dressing in masculine-ish women's clothes wasn't going to stop my dysphoria, I started getting sports bras, as I heard they could compress your chest. This is what they DIDN'T tell me:

remove. the. cups. They're just extra padding and will not help you look flat.

Not any sports bra will cut it. You don't want a low impact one; get a medium to high impact one. I currently use ones from Target/Kmart since I'm broke. I've found that, out of what I've tried, the "Active Everlast Womens Square Crop Top" from Kmart works best for me.

Either size down one, or double layer. Don't do both, you won't be able to breathe.

Try them on in store with a shirt over it and see how you look. Try double-layering them under the shirt, too. Don't forget to take the pads out when you try them.

Don't wear two if it's cold. You're gonna layer for the weather anyway so you'll already look smaller, plus you might struggle to breathe.

TAPING: I should probably preface with this: don't tape all the way around your body, don't tape with anything not meant for skin, and cover those nips if you don't want to feel the worst regret of your life (you can use covers, cotton, tissue, whatever).

TransTape is not an option, due to my living situation, so what I did was I got one of my friends (who does sport and therefore owns a ton of sports tape) to give me some rolls. This is a good and safe alternative, HOWEVER:

The strips are often thinner, so I recommend sticking them together into a thicker strip before putting it on yourself.

Remember to rub to activate adhesive.

Put test strips on your chest (underarms or sternum) for 12-24 hours to see if your chest will react negatively to the adhesive or materials.

With a larger chest, you might want to lie down and see what gravity does to you. If this doesn't work, do it the mirror, and look at how your body moves when you pull it BEFORE YOU PUT THE TAPE ON.

If you're cool with it, maybe get someone you trust to help you for the first time or two.

THERE ARE TUTORIALS. USE THEM.

WHERE TO BUY THINGS IN AUSTRALIA (if you can afford/are safe): In Sydney, there is a store called Sock Drawer Heroes (SDH) which ships around AU and NZ. They are a queer-owned business which sells gender-affirming products for people of all genders. Their shipping has discreet packaging, too.

I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE PRODUCTS, but I know people who do and are satisfied with their purchases.

In terms of transmasc stuff, they sell:

Binders of different colours and lengths (their own brand and Underworks)

Tape

Packers

"Adult" products

Their binders: - Range from AUD$64-92 (the full length ones are more costly, and the most expensive are the swimwear options) - Come in full and half lengths - Is a swimwear option - Different colours, however as a small business they only have a few shades (which are lighter skin tones, black, and white) - There used to be a binder donation, I don't know what the deal is with it now. - Returns are possible. The binder cannot have been worn (tried on is fine), and it must be 30 days within the date of purchase.

Their tape: - Wider skin tone range than the binders (including black, white, and vivid colours if you wanna have fun). - Costs AUD$20-24

Their packers: - Pouches, prosthetics, underwear, straps - Again, limited shade range (about 4-5 per model) - AUD$16-159 (depends on what you want, of course) - I do not pack, so I can't really talk about much here.

I hope this will help someone out there, what with the lack of queer resources there are for aussies. Lots of love and stay safe! <3

[alo-piss-trancy]

Btw even if I don't check in here as often as I used to, I really do appreciate all of you who stick with this blog anyways c': Especially since I barely post anything 'kinky' myself anymore. So this is mostly just a gaming/media rant and personal blog now oops

In some ways I'm definitely better off than I was a few years ago, but I've also been dealing with a lot of chaos in my life and household and it doesn't look like it's gonna get fixed very soon. Mix of financial, physical health of me and family I've been heavily assisting, house things in desperate need of repair...

On top of that I've been starting to realize I might actually have developed some form of Agoraphobia from all that time I was housebound before... and other stuff, but I think that was probably the main contributor. I'm still looking into it but with how a lot of the other things I've tried to cope haven't helped, meds don't seem to touch it much, and it seems to be getting worse, it's looking more and more likely than I'd like to admit. Which sucks bc it's also going to be hard af to keep up with working to treat it with Exposure or smth if I'm buried in all the above stuff/have limited transport/places to even go. It's really freaking hard when I do rarely go out and the anxiety/illness makes it so much worse. There've been times I've had to give up and go back early after like, an hour bc I was vomiting/crippled with pain/on the verge of fainting... and that's been happening more often. Like 1 in every 3 times, and I may only get out 3 times a month at the worst points.

Idk. I'm trying. I'm keeping up with the bare minimum rn and that's all I can really say lol

Also the only problem that's actually relevant to kink blog: my drive is still at 0 or even the negatives bc I can't get my medication sorted out bc my appointments got pushed back AGAIN ☠️ So yeah. That's why there has been no writing or hc posts and will not probably be for a WHILE. On God, it's about as appealing to me as eating dry cardboard 😔 Trying to write or draw anything fun is like pulling teeth and if I won't enjoy the end result then I'm not gonna bother RIP. When I get that sorted out maybe I can finally touch my poor WIP pile again 😭

Uh yeah so. That's why I've been so absent for like... forever. I do miss checking in here but I also get in my own head sometimes about posting when I'm not 'providing' anything this blog was intended for. Which I realise is dumb bc it's MY blog and if I want to rant about video games only for like a year straight then I'm allowed to. But brains are Fun like that 🥲

For what it's worth I'm not in like, a fullblown mental crisis so please don't worry about that! I'm not in any immediate danger or smth! I do have some other hobbies I've been keeping up with and socialising in other spaces. And I've been reading. So I promise I'm not in a complete isolated depression pit 💛 Life could definitely be better and I def have some rough days, but I have been trying to take some baby steps to either fix things or keep myself sane at least lol

Idk I just felt like I should explain why I've been mostly gone for ages off and on. I do lurk here sometimes to peek at things even if I don't have the energy to show myself. But I do really appreciate anyone who sends asks or comments on my ao3 or just reads my ramblings lol 💛 Even when I can't respond immediately I still treasure the gesture and it makes me happy to see some of the same names around in my notifs/dash c': So thank you~

[actowizsolutions]

How to Use Web Scraping for MAP Monitoring Automation?

As the market of e-commerce is ever-growing, we can utilize that online markets are increasing with more branded products getting sold by resellers or retailers worldwide. Some brands might not notice that some resellers and sellers sell branded products with lower pricing to get find customers, result in negative impact on a brand itself.

For a brand reputation maintenance, you can utilize MAP policy like an agreement for retailers or resellers.

MAP – The Concept

Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) is a pre-confirmed minimum price for definite products that authorized resellers and retailers confirm not to advertise or sell or below.

If a shoe brand set MAP for A product at $100, then all the approved resellers or retailers, either at online markets or in brick-&-mortar stores become grateful to pricing not under $100. Otherwise, retailers and resellers will get penalized according to the MAP signed agreement.

Normally, any MAP Policy might benefit in provided aspects:

Guaranteed fair prices and competition in resellers or retailers

Maintaining value and brand awareness

Preventing underpricing and pricing war, protecting profit limits

Why is Making the MAP Policy Tough for Brands?

1. Franchise stores

A franchise store is among the most common ways to resell products of definite brands. To organize monitoring of MAP Violation of the front store retailers, we could just utilize financial systems to monitor transactions in an efficient way.

Yet, a brand still can’t ensure that all sold products submitted by franchise stores are 100% genuine. It might require additional manual work to make that work perfectly.2. Online Market Resellers

If we look at research of the Web Retailers, we can have a basic idea about world’s finest online marketplaces. With over 150 main all- category markets across the globe, countless niche ones are available.Online retailers which might be selling products in various online marketplaces

Certainly, most online retailers might choose multiple marketplaces to sell products which can bring more traffic with benefits.Indefinite resellers without any approval

Despite those that sell products using approval, some individual resellers deal in copycat products that a brand might not be aware of.

So, monitoring pricing a few some products with ample online markets at similar time could be very difficult for a brand.

How to Find MAP Violations and Defend Your Brand in Online Markets?

For outdated physical retail, a brand require a business system to record data to attain MAP monitoring. With online market resellers, we would like to introduce an extensively used however ignored tech data scraping which can efficiently help them in MAP monitoring.

Consequently, how do brands utilize data scraping for detecting if all resellers violate an MAP policy?

Let’s assume that one online reseller is selling products on different 10 online websites like Amazon, Target, JD, Taobao, eBay, Rakuten, Walmart,Tmall, Flipkart, and Tokopedia.

Step 1: Identify which data you need?

Frankly speaking, for MAP monitoring, all the data needed include product information and pricing.

Step 2: Choose a suitable technique to make data scrapers.

We need to do 10 data scrapers to collect data from corresponding markets and scraping data in a definite frequency.

A programmer need to write 10 scripts to achieve web scraping. Though, the inadequacies are:

Trouble in maintaining web scrapers if a website layout is changed.

Difficulty to cope with IP rotations as well as CAPTCHA and RECAPTCHA.

A supernumerary selection is the use of a data scraping tool made by Actowiz Solutions. For coders or non-coders, this can provide ample web scraping.

2. Automatic crawler: Also, the latest Actowiz Solutions’ scrapers enable auto data detection and creates a crawler within minutes.

Step 3: Running scrapers to collect data on 10 online markets. To get MAP monitoring, we need to scrape data at definite frequencies. So, whenever you prepare a scraper utilizing computer languages, you might have to start scrapers manually each day. Or, you could run the script with an extraction frequency function written with it. Though if you are using a web scraping tool like Actowiz Solutions, we could set the scraping time consequently.

Step 4: Subsequently after having data, whatever you should do is just go through the required data. Once you recognize any violating behaviors, you can react to it immediately.

Conclusion

For brands, MAP is very important. It helps in protecting the brand reputation and stop pricing war amongst resellers or retailers and offer more alternatives to do marketing. To deal with MAP desecrations, some ideas are there and you can search thousands of ideas online within seconds. Using MAP monitoring, it’s easy to take benefits from web extraction, the most profitable way of tracking pricing across various online markets, Actowiz Solutions is particularly helpful.

For more information, contact Actowiz Solutions now! You can also reach us for all your mobile app scraping and web scraping services requirements

[her-leading-man]

Hello HLM. I need some genuine advice. I'm naturally a submissive woman and I'm still in search of a dom. Unfortunately, alot of doms I've meet are either faking it to abuse and take advantage of a submissive or they do not want a commited relationship; they just want to play around and have their fill. Thankfully, I'm far to wise to be taken advantage off but I genuinely yearn to find that dom who I can give myself to completely (I do believe in God and I have a faith). I do want to marry this type of man but my journey in finding him has been full of lost hopes and frustrations. I do feel at times just giving up. Is it me or is it the case that there aren't many genuine doms out there? Most importantly, how do I separate the wheat from the chaff? Feeling a little lost at the moment.

I've spoken, over the years, with so many who share your sentiments. As soon as I speak out though, others may claim that I am also trying to take advantage. Just know that I am not though.

It seems as though you have a good gut instinct though as to who is real and who is playing. Unfortunately, I think it is safe to assume that all good Dominants will be in another D/s relationship if Tumblr or FetLife is the place you are looking for a Dominant. I really don't know of a safe place where good-hearted Dominants can be sourced. I think any Tumblr submissive would be wise to be skeptical at this point, given recent revelations of well-known advice givers.

Any advice that I can give would be to be your true self. In what you say in DMs and what you post on your blog. I would look for men who approach you as if there is nothing for them to personally gain from you. Men (or Leaders) who only support your journey. It takes a lot of time to get to know someone, but you can get a sense of their motivations in the back and forth of virtual. Location is usually an issue, but it can be overcome in time.

I would make a list of Leader traits that you find appealing, desirable and downright arousing. Like financial goals, think about your Needs, your Wants and your Wishes. Then, and more importantly in this era, also make a list of "red flags" or "hard limits" that will rule out a potential Leader. And, most importantly, stick to them. Be quick to cut bait when red flags emerge. Be slow to cut bait when they have shown themselves worthy of grace. One by one, it seems that Doms are disgraced here. We see it with Leaders of every stripe...from politicians to religious leaders to company CEOs. And word travels fast in this bubble. If you are feeling lost, know that you are not alone. Also know that the person you may be seeking is not a Tumblr celeb and is just an ordinary, yet exceptional, person who is doing their best to navigate the same jungle where you are feeling lost. In the meantime, be exceptional. Take care of your mental health and physical health. Hone in on what exactly makes you happy and fulfilled. Maybe you will cross paths with someone who checks the boxes. And maybe after a great deal of time, they will prove themselves worthy of your submission.

HLM October 2022

[thesacredself]

🍃 Earth Signs: Sagittarius Season 🍃

taurus, virgo, capricorn (s,m,r,v). Please take what resonates ✨

It looks like you’ve been busy, earth signs! But it’s time to ask yourself how you can begin to slow down going into Sagittarius season, how you can shed projects and commitments in order to cultivate a quiet environment and mind. Ultimately, these next few weeks are about mental and physical boundaries, how you allow yourself to settle into and address confusion and indecision in your life. Choice is a big theme for you and this is something you will have to acknowledge, address, and reflect upon. It may be that you’re conflicted in whether you should leave a job, whether you need to prioritise various projects and commitments, choose between more than one option in dating, or you’re simply unsure of how you can bring some work/life balance into your life. Either way, you’re unsure about which option is best.

Life is full of decisions and it can become exhausting or overwhelming. We always want to do the best we can and some decisions may take longer than others for that reason. When we’re contemplating our own wellness and wellbeing, our relationships with others, what job we have so we can live as comfortably as possible, these aren’t always light decisions to make. But know you’re doing your best! And it’s okay if you do feel uncertain or exhausted; that’s not a reflection on you! It’s natural. This Sag season, give yourself some space to reflect, to digest, to simply think and be. Sometimes, it’s easy to believe that constantly thinking will get us the answer but it’s only when we give our mind space that the answer usually arises.

If you have been avoiding making a decision for whatever reason, or you feel the tendency to do so very soon, try to resist that temptation. Avoidance isn’t the answer; you’ll be forced to deal with it either way. It’s better to deal with it on your terms, consciously, deliberately, and with the best of intentions, than to be forced into dealing with it unexpectedly. Allow your life to unfold on your terms.

It may be that you can choose more than one option- you can juggle two jobs or two projects; you can be open to a polyamorous relationship; you can accept you’re not ready for commitment and enjoy your singlehood; you can find a way to fit in hobbies and interests alongside work. If you can fit it all in, perfect! But remember that being busy doesn’t have to be exhausting. You can be busy and feel mentally stimulated and emotionally fulfilled, able to handle everything that comes your way, without stretching yourself past your limit. Don’t exhaust yourself!

If you can’t fit it all in, now is the time to research, to gather advice and information from others, and be logical. It’s a time to be clear on your priorities, your values and beliefs, and start investing your time and energy as efficiently as possible. Don’t be caught up in small things or whims. Ask yourself what it is that you want and need most, and go from there. It might even be that you need help from others or that you seek practical support at this time, such as getting a new computer programme, going on a free course, asking someone else to cook dinner or do the chores, or downloading an app or buying a journal that helps you with money or time management. When you take care of your day-to-day life and ensure you have good time/financial management in all areas, you will allow yourself to be upheld by an incredibly strong support system. It may seem tedious to come back to these areas and review it all but it really will benefit you going forward.

It's also time to come back to or start a mindfulness and meditation practice. Whatever you need to tap into your inner wisdom and voice, make time for it. This season is the time to work smarter, not harder. If you like to journal, consult the cards or stars, or speak it through in a long discussion, make sure that you are being heard and you’re taking time to understand your own thoughts and feelings. When that happens, the answer always finds its way to you, but you first have to make space for its arrival.

This can also be about physical boundaries too, not just mental, such as distancing yourself from people who dump their issues or worries on you, silencing or blocking people online, spending less time online in general, spending less time around people or environments that cause you stress, etc. This is particularly pertinent, as Mars is still in retrograde and these areas can be a little fuzzier than usual. So, find that balance and harmony between all of your commitments; remain open and flexible to what arises, look into what it is that you need at this time to make confident and competent decisions, and remain informed where you can. There is so much freedom in having the power to choose.

We spend so much time being distracted, caught up in so many ways of being busy- on social media, in relationship drama, in television, in just constantly working, that we don’t always take the time to create space for ourselves, especially mentally. This Sag season, take the time to experience yourself, your own mind, and allow it to rest, to settle. Understand your own philosophy, and harness some of that forthright, friendly, and optimistic energy that is present in Sag season. By doing so, you choose to create freedom for your own mind. This isn’t about taking risks or gambles, or even rushing ahead; this is about taking it slow, getting to know and understand yourself and the situation you’re currently in, knowing precisely how you feel about it. Get to know yourself, essentially! You are hard workers, earth signs; you invest so much effort and energy into all that you care about but it’s time to make sure that some of that effort and energy is directed towards yourself. When you do, what awaits you is greater clarity and insight, more confidence in yourself and your abilities, deeper balance in your life, and a sense that you are one step closer to success!